When most pensioners are thinking about taking it easy, the trapeze artist is busy chasing her dreams

I’m not talking about her career. At the age of 69 she’s long since retired from a job in the financial services industry.

The pensioner, who turns 70 in November, likes nothing better than throwing herself around on a trapeze – attending circus skills classes at the HQ of world renowned Cardiff-based NoFit State Circus twice a week.

When many women wouldn’t dream of such daring exploits for fear of the physical demands required, Gill is something of an anomaly – and that’s just the way she likes it.

“I started circus skills and aerial work, which is my favourite, just before turning 50,” she recalls. “I saw an advert in Eastern Leisure Centre for a trapeze class run by No Fit State who had been going for about eight years by then.

“It was a class for children, so I called and said, ‘I’m a 50-year-old adult’.

“There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line, but the instructor said there were only 14 spaces, so we should wait and see if all the spaces got taken up.”

Gill Williams

As luck would have it Gill received a call to partake in the class and when she arrived the only other adults there were parents ready to watch their children pick up circus tricks.

“I squatted on the floor with the other children and the instructor said, ‘I wondered if you were going to look like an old granny’. Coming from anyone else, that would have been rude, but it was so funny.

“I saw there was a chair there and thought, ‘Thank goodness. When I’m hanging from the bar trying to get my feet over my head, there’s a chair for me to stand on’.

“But it was a chair for one of the mothers to sit and watch from!

“It was a very hard class, but such fun. Exercising with young people was and is still very liberating.”

Hanging upside down from ropes might not be every pensioner’s idea of fun, however Gill’s keenness has come as no surprise to her friends and family. She took up rollerblading at 55 and there are plenty of other adventures she would like to have a go at before she thinks of winding down.

Cliff, her husband with whom she celebrated 50 years of marriage this year, gets a similar thrill from surfing and windsurfing.

“I’ve been going to classes at NoFit State Circus twice a week for some time now,” she says.“There are quite a lot of younger people in my class and the oldest apart from me are in their 30s.

“My friends know I’m wacky and aren’t surprised at all that I’m hanging from ropes,” she adds.

“I was only surprised that there was a facility that allowed members of the community to partake in this kind of thing. I think it’s wonderful. We’re so lucky to have a resource like NoFit State in Cardiff.”

As a child growing up in the Rhondda Valley, Gill longed to do gymnastics, but didn’t have much opportunity to partake in her passions – instead she took piano lessons at the insistence of her father.

“My dad wanted me to take lessons and I love music, but I was happy to give it up in my late teens. I always loved to dance and wanted to do gymnastics but I grew up in the 1950s and little girls led pretty sedentary lives back then.”

However, it was when she hit 40 that her life took a turn to healthy living. An article about cancer patients had a profound emotional impact and made Gill realise it was time she started looking after herself, taking care of her body and fitness.

“I’m a very slight woman and I’m not proud to admit it, but until I was 40 I didn’t do anything by way of fitness at all,” she says.

“I realised what had always been natural doesn’t last forever, so I started swimming in my lunch hour at the National Sports Centre in Cardiff.

“This was more than 25 years ago when women, especially older women, didn’t go to the gym.

“But one of the young lads there told me I should go to the gym as well as swim for all-round benefits and to lessen the likelihood of osteoporosis.”

Now retired Gill still regularly goes to the gym – when she’s not flying on a trapeze of course. She has also practised yoga for years and with regular swimming and running, exercises up to five times a week.

But it’s her sessions at NoFit State that she adores. She tells me she her fascination with aerial work stemmed from a famous Hollywood movie of the ‘50s.

“There was a film called Trapeze that came out in 1956,” she remember. “It starred Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida. It captured my imagination and was the start of my lifelong love of the circus and wanting to make my dream come true of experiencing the trapeze for myself.

“It’s like when you’re swimming in deep water and there’s so much space underneath you,” she adds.

“When you swim a sufficient number of lengths, you get into a beautiful haze where it’s just the water and you and your body feels light and your head is freed from thinking about the day-to-day dross.

“It’s hard to explain. When you’re in the air, it frees your weight, which feels just wonderful.”

“I don’t know why aerial work appealed so much. It’s extremely liberating and is every bit as good as I anticipated it would be.”

And for the future? Well she’s going to keep on keeping on. To this inspirational woman age is just a number.

“Many people think that just because they’re getting old that should stop them from exercising. I’m proof that if you look after yourself you can achieve whatever you want.”

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